Shoveling apparatus



Feb. 23, 1954 -r 2,670,070

, SHOVELING APPARATUS Filed March 27, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ju/es Decaf By his of/omeys Feb. 23, 1954 J, DECAT 2,670,070

SHOVELING APPARATUS Filed March 27, 1951 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 /nVen/ar Ju/es Decaf By his attorneys Feb. 23, 1954 DECAT 2,670,070

SHOVELING APPARATUS Filed March 2'7, 1951 5 SheetsSheet 5 I I i v I; 1

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mvenfor Ju/es Decaf By his affomeys frame of the shovel over the ground.

illustrate an Patented Feb. 23, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHOVELING APPARATUS Jules Decat, Montrouge, France Application March 27, 1951, Scrial No. 217,693 Claims priority, application-France May 3, 1950' 3 Claims.

This invention relates to a mechanical shovel of the kind which may be used for loading loose materials such as sand, coal, coke, stones, gravel, chemical fertilizers, phosphates, mineral ores, etc.

In a mechanical shovel according to the invention, a wheel-mounted frame supports a bucket-elevator chain adapted to rake in thematerial and dump it on an elevator belt disposed beyond the bucket-chain, and said chain is adapted, as the removal of the materials proceeds, to be lowered in a vertical plane under the action of its own weight while remaining in contact with the material to be loaded, the jib of the bucket-chain being for this purpose mounted at its lower end upon a horizontal pivot. According to an essential feature of the invention, the said horizontal pivot is in turn mounted on a horizontal disc rotatable about an axis perpendicular to its plane, whereby, after the bucket chain has been operated to remove the material in a given direction, the jib of the bucket-chain may be raised and then rotated about its said perpendicular axis to set the jib in another direction and then lowered into contact with the heap of material in this new angular position, this procedure being repeated as many times as is necessary to remove all of thematerial in the heap by a fanwise displacement of the bucketchain without having to shift the wheel-mounted The accompanying drawings 7 exemplary form of embodiment of an improved mechanical shovel according to the invention.

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the shovel;

Fig. 2 is a plan view showing a different an'gular position of the bucket-chain; in this figure some parts have been omitted for clearness;

Fig. 3 is a view on an enlarged scale in section on the broken line -3--3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Figs. 5 and 6 are perspective views onan enlarged scale of a bucket of the bucket chain in two modifications thereof respectively; and

Fig. '7 is a partial section online 1-] of Fig. 1.

As shown in the drawings, a frame a mounted on wheels a and (1 supports a bucket chain 1) (on the left of Figs. 1 and '2) and an elevator belt '0 (on the right of Figs. 1 and 2), arranged to be fed from the bucket chain.

Mounted on brackets a of the frame a in semi-circular array (Fig. 2) are rollers a upon which can ride an incomplete ring d (Fig. 3), consisting of an outwardly open arcuate channel member engaging the rollers 11 between the flanges thereof. Secured on the upper flange of the channel ring dis a recessed disc d (Fig. 2) rotatable with the ring about an axis 'perpendicular to the plane of said disc d Inner rollers a (Fig. 4) cooperate with the outer rollers 11. to guide the ring d and disc (P. The rotary movement of said ring (1 and disc d about an axis perpendicular to the plane thereof, maybe produced, for instance, by two lengths of cable d 11 secured at one of their ends to diametrically opposite of said ring 01 and at their other ends to the ends of a sprocket chain d engaging a sprocket wheel d actuated y a crank d"; said sprocket wheel d and crank-d" are arranged on the frame a.

Secured to the under face of the recessed disc (1 are two diametrically opposed aligned bushings d throughwhi'ch extends a shaft c. Surrounding the' shaft e and rotatable thereon through ball bearings e is a hollow shaft having secured thereon the drive sheaves f of the double bucket chain b. The shaft f is driven in rotation through the sprocket pinion 1 and sprocket chain f (Figs. 1 and 3) by a motor f with which is associated :a reducer aring f of the worm and wormgear type.

The jib b of' the bucket chain is mounted for pivotal movement at its lower end about the horizontal shaft 6. For this purpose the two uprights b lfi-of the beam forming the inner end of this jib are engaged on the shaft e (Fig. 3)

beyond the :ends and .to each side of the hollow shaft 5f. At the outer end of the jib, the uprights of the girder 12 support a-shaft b on which are mounted the guide sheavesb of the double bucket-chain b. i

As stated, the disc d is cut out to provide "a clearance forthe passing of the bucket-chain b. As clearly visible "on Fig. 4, the guide sheave c ofthe elevator (conveyor belt -c is disposed below the drive sheaves or drums f of the bucket chain b. The elevator belt c is provided with transverse strips 1: for preventing backsliding of the materials to be conveyed. Asshown in 1, the drive-sheave c ofthe conveyor vbelt c is driven througha sprocket pinion and '-.chain c and a reducer {gearing c from a motor 1: .mounted on :a platform or stand a? supported on the frame a. Also mounted on the platform .a is a winch g, provided with a retaining pawl system and connected through a cable g trained over a pulley g at the upper end of a trestle g supported on the frame a. with a brace 9 connected with the jib b of the bucket-chain b.

In the embodiment illustrated, the bucketchain b comprises buckets h which, in their active condition, i. e. when in the lower run of the bucket-chain, are open forwardly and downwardly and are laterally flared. Figs. and 6 illustrate at h the top wall, at 72. the rear wall and at k and 71. the side walls of the buckets, in two modified forms thereof respectively. It is seen that the side walls 72. and h form a dihedron. The buckets are adapted to act as scrapers, pushing the material along as they are fed.

The frame a which supports the entire apparatus is, as previously stated, mounted on four wheels, the rear wheels a being mounted on a fixed axle and disposed to either side of the lower sheave c of the elevator belt 0, and the front wheels a being steering wheels and disposed under the intermediate part of the elevator belt.

The wheel-mounted frame a, a a may be equipped with an automotive drive mechanism (not shown) for moving the mechanical shovel over the worksite, and it may, for displacements on the road, be hitched to a tractor (not shown) by a draft bar a secured to the front steering wheels a (Fig. l.) '2

The mechanical shovel described operates as follows:

The shovel is advanced on its wheels a a to a point close to the pil i of material to be loaded,

until the lower sheave c of the elevator belt just touches the base of the pile (Fig. 1).

The motor I is started and the pawl of the winch g is released, and the cable 0 is allowed to uncoil until the jib b of the double bucket chain b has been brought to rest under gravity" upon the heap of material, the buckets It being thus caused to penetrate into the material by the combined weight of the buckets and the jib structure. The bucket chain b is then started in operation by the motor I so that the lower reach of the double chain is moved from the outer towards the inner end of the chain, 1. e. towards the elevator belt 0, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1. The elevator belt 0 is driven by its motor 0 in the opposite direction, that is, its upper reach is moved from the inner and lower end towards the outer and upper end, as also indicated by arrows on Fig. 1.

The buckets h are thus caused to scrape or rake in the material and dump it at the inner end of th bucket chain 1) on the upper reach of the conveyor belt 0 at the inner end thereof, and the elevator belt then conveys the material to its upper end whence the material is dumped into a waiting truck, car or hopper, or other receiver, not shown.

The buckets h dig a furrow in the heap of ma-- terial and the jib b of the bucket chain b moves down under its own weight, by pivoting about the horizontal shaft 6 as this furrow grows deeper and deeper, so that the buckets are at all times pressed into the material under a substantially constant weight.

of said disc, by a given angle, after which the jib b is lowered down again by means of th winch g and cable g until the bucket chain b is again brought to rest upon the heap of material 2'. The bucket chain digs a further furrow in the heap, extending in a different angular direction from the first furrow. The operation thus proceeds, the material being removed along fanning-out directions until all the material which can be reached by the bucket chain in its maximum range of angular displacement has been removed by the bucket chain I), dumped by it onto the conveyor elevator belt 0 and loaded by the latter on the truck, car, hopper or other receiver provided for the purpose. The shovel is then shifted to another location, where similar operations are performed.

Another possibl type of operation is to rotate the disc dd with the bucket chain 1) in a continuous manner, alternately to right and left, so as to sweep uniformly the entire sector-shaped area lying within the shovels range of action. In such case, the disc may be actuated by a ratchet wheel, driven by a lever provided with a pawl and actuated by the transmission.

What I claim is:

1. In shovelling apparatus, in combination, a wheel-mounted frame, a bucket-chain jib and an elevator-belt structure projecting from said frame in generally opposite directions, the inner end of said elevator belt being arranged beneath and in material-receiving relation with the inner end of said bucket-chain, buckets on said jib adapted to rake material inwardly, a circular rotary supporting means in a plane generally parallel to said elevator belt rotatable on said frame about an axis perpendicular to said plane, a generally horizontal shaft extending diametrically of said circular supporting means, means pivoting the inner end of said jib on said shaft, means for rais ing and easing said jib about said shaft, and means for rotating said support for slewing the jib.

2. A shovel apparatus as in claim 1, wherein said rotary support comprises a part-circumferential outwardly-opening channel, a part-circumferential array of rollers journalled on radiallyextending axes on said frame, said channel engaging said rollers between the flanges thereof, a recessed circular plate secured on the top flange of said channel, said shaft fixedly secured to and under said plate diametrically thereof.

3. A shovelling apparatus as in claim 2, whereina pair of frame members at the inner end of said jib are pivoted at spaced points on said fixed shaft, a tubular shaft surrounding and rotatable around said fixed shaft between the pivotal points of said frame members, drive sheave means for said bucket-chain secured on said tubular shaft, and means for rotating said tubular shaft for driving said bucket-chain.

JUIES DECAT.

Number Name 1,043,113 Krupp Nov. 5, 1912 Robbins Feb. 16,1926 

